I enjoy it when all the spring flowers start to come out, every day there is something new to see and suddenly everything starts to look colourful. I do love the Cow Parsley lining all the roads with it’s airy foliage and flowers. The one above has a male Orange tipped Butterfly feeding on the nectar.
The Cuckoo flower is meant to be a herald that the Cuckoo has returned from Africa. I see the lovely pale mauve flowers in abundance in the meadow down by the river, arriving before the Buttercups.
The first Orchid I’ve seen is the aptly named Early Purple Orchid, it’s the first time I have seen them on Hambledon Hill. When I was younger I used to see them in the woods where we lived, but here they were in the open on the slopes of the hill.
Of course at the end of April into May the Bluebells appear, although depending on the weather you can’t always pin down the best time to see them. I always enjoying seeing them, the scent and the colour is something special.
The lovely Red Campions also start to flower, the beautiful flowers brighten up hedgerows along with the Cow Parsley.
Of course May is when the Hawthorn flowers or May Blossom cover the hedgerows in a mass of white.
After the winter we have just been through these heralds of spring have been more than welcome to brighten the day.
